The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-11-18
RHYMES THE CHILDREN USE.

RHYM1S THE CHILDREN USE.
rrba Row Who Is cit" In English Is Wolf
in German, a little Devil in Japanese,
a Ieper in Malagasy, and a Crazy One
in Hawaiian-Use of Counting out
Rhymes.
From tie Netc York World.
A dignified professor, with a bald head
hogan a lecture before the New York Acade-
nv Of Sciences Monday evening in a Co.
h,nbia College classroom as follows;
"a .Eeny, neney, miney, mo,
Re latch niger by the toe,
III he hollerS let him go,
Eeny, meney, miney, mo.
Ope-ery. twoery, ziccory Fan,
81 Wickaboo, wockabo,
61ickabo, crockabo,
Tilery tan.
fsntery, mentery, koutery, kali,
Apple seed and apple sail,
Wire, brier, timber lock-
Il Three geese in a flock.
one flies east. one flies west,
And one flies over the cuckoo's nest.
Eenery, teenery, tickery, teven,
I'll go marry ten or eleven,
Pin pan, musky Dan,
Nineteen, twenty, twenty-one.
The dignifled professor was DR.. H. Car
rington Bolton, and his subject was 1.-THE
y contingent Rhymes of Children. A
| Study in international Folk Lore Dr.
4 Bolton was formerly professor in Trinity
College. Hartford. He has just returned
from tour in Europe. He explained to
the audience that these rhymes and many
others which he had picked up i'll twenty
languages were used by children in their
games to determine who should have the
most undesirable part. A leader repeated
the doggerel rhyme, and the child on whom
the last word fell was set free. Those re-
manning went through the same ordeal until
the last one remained, who was sit. This
dit" DR.. Bolton said, is very polite ex-
preston in the games of English-speab ing
children, for in German the one who is ''it"
is called a ''wolf inst ad of lit; :" in Japa-
nese "oui," OF ''little devil" in Malagasy
"bucca," or ''leper," and in Hawaiian crazy
one"
Prof Bolton said he had collected count
ng-out rhymes in twenty languages, civil
lied, half civilized and barbarous. Among
these languages are the Penobscot Indian,
japanese, Arabic, Turkish, Malagasy, Bull
garian, Armenian, Swedi h, Italian, Rus
Sian, Portuguese, Spanish and Basque. The
Bulgarian child rhymes, he said, were too
pronounced for repetition, but he recited
examples in a dozen languages. In Dutch
,e had collected fourteen counting out
nymes, in German 1853, and in English 454
Altogether, by corresponding with scholars
IN all parts of the world, he had obtained
500 contingent rhymes
One of the most common jingleS in all
languages was the familiar
One, two, buckle my shoe;
Three, four, shut the door;
Five, six, pick up sticks;
Seven, eight, lay them straight, etc.
There is fund of curious illusions in the
doggerel rhymes, DIR. Bolton continued.
Here is one picked up after the expedition
of the Emperor Napoleon into Russia:
The First Lieutenant was so neat
He stopped in battle to wash his feet.
Another, which shows how ancient the
patter is, is:
Nebuchadnezzar the King of the Jews,
Slipped off his slippers and slipped on his shoes.
A modern instance showing local coloring
in the United States is:
There was little rattlesnake,
He ate too much of wedding cake,
And made his little belly ache.
AS to the origin of almost all of the child
rens doggerel DR.. Bolton said he believed
It descended from remote antiquity. The
lcients were accustomed to cast lots in the
Dst solemn acts of life. 1t was considered
appeal TO the Almighty. In the middle
<es casting lots was degraded to a supersti-
Jon AMI Christians used unmeaning formu-
las to impose on the people, pretending to
cure diseases and forecast the future. In
the well-known doggerel:
Eckery, ackery, ukery an,
One-ery, twoery, etc.
The ''eckeryn is Sanscrit for Zone" 1t is
probable, Prof Bolton said, that 'ackery"
was originally word also.
There was only one corrupt Latin verse
that DIR. Bolton could remember. 1t is;
In hoe Domino, quod,
Ducks foot plump in the mud.
1t is probable that the jingles that the
children now use in games were formerly
written on papers and hung around the
s,necks of people in the middle ages to keep
off the plague or to cure hydrophobia, govt
Ind rheumatism.
n Children nowadays, however, are inclined
b improve on the old doggerel Dr. Bolton
bad interviewed good many children in all
languages and found it difficult to under
<tand them. Consonants were not preserved
Ind novels were of no account to the child
len. AS an illustration of his difficulty,
Dir. Bolton wrote this word on the black,
board:
PHTH-oLo-GN-YRRH.
This was the way a man named Turner
wrote his name, and when asked to justify
Dis spelling he said:
"Phth" in ''phtislc" is sounded 70" "olo"
6n Colonel" is sounded ugh" Ign" i'll
/ 'gnaw'' is IN" and ''yrrh" in ''myrrh" is
sounded "r."
DR.. Bolton gave this example of the man
her in which children change the rhymes
in the Eastern States there Is a jim. lie which
buns as follows:
Holm says to John how muca are your geese?
John says to John twenty cents apiece;
John says to John that is 600 dear,
ohn says to John get CIT of here.
A On the Pacific coasG this has been changed
to:
Chin Chong, Chineman, how much are your
geese?
Chin Chong, Chinsman, twenty cents apiece, etc.
The latest discovery dug up by DR.. Boil
ton was this:
One, two, three, four, five, six. seven,
All good children go to heaven,
All bad children go below,
To keep company with Guiteau.
A GALLANT HIGHWAYMAN.
An Incident in the Career of Claude
du all.